Human remains
That last post has made me think about the issue of displaying human remains in museums. Personally, it's something I'm not very comfortable with. Apart from the ghoulish aspect (eek! A dead body!), I feel it's very disrespectful. Blame it on my church schooling! ;)
I remember visiting the Egyptian galleries at the BM a few years ago, already feeling a tad apprehensive (that scene, where all the mummies awaken from 'The Mummy Returns' was playing on my mind!), and coming across a frankly disturbing scene: A group of tourists crowded around a case, having photos and taking video of a body mummified naturally in sand...and smiling...and making V signs. It upset me. It didn't seem appropriate.
I would have no problems with being dug up in the distant future and studied, providing I was quietly re-interred somewhere and left in peace after my bones had revealed their secrets, to benefit understanding of culture and society in the twenty-first century. I would not want to either i) spend eternity being gawped at in a museum or, ii) sitting in a box on a shelf in a storage unit.
These things bother me!! I can't be the only one...
I remember visiting the Egyptian galleries at the BM a few years ago, already feeling a tad apprehensive (that scene, where all the mummies awaken from 'The Mummy Returns' was playing on my mind!), and coming across a frankly disturbing scene: A group of tourists crowded around a case, having photos and taking video of a body mummified naturally in sand...and smiling...and making V signs. It upset me. It didn't seem appropriate.
I would have no problems with being dug up in the distant future and studied, providing I was quietly re-interred somewhere and left in peace after my bones had revealed their secrets, to benefit understanding of culture and society in the twenty-first century. I would not want to either i) spend eternity being gawped at in a museum or, ii) sitting in a box on a shelf in a storage unit.
These things bother me!! I can't be the only one...
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